DATE=9/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA SUB (UPDATE, L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266270
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
///EDS: UPDATES 2-266259 WITH GOVERNMENT REACTION,
ANALYSTS BITE, PARLIAMENT CALL FOR INDEPENDENT
INQUIRY///
INTRO: A German newspaper is reporting that a missile
fired by a Russian warship hit and sank the Russian
submarine Kursk last month. All crew members aboard
the nuclear-powered sub died in the accident (on
August 12th). Russian officials said there were no live
warheads used during naval exercises and that the two
vessels were not near each other at the time of the
accident. VOA's Eve Conant reports from the Russian
capital officials say a government commission meeting
on the causes of the disaster might yield more
information next week.
TEXT: Russian officials are hotly denying a report by
the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, which says a
Russian intelligence report tells how a radar-guided
missile, fired by the cruiser Peter the Great, sank
the submarine Kursk.
The German newspaper said a "Granit" missile had been
fired from the Russian warship during naval exercises
in the Barents Sea. The newspaper said no details of
the exact circumstances of the missile firing are
available, but it adds that the explosions that sank
the Kursk would have been visible from the bridge of
the warship.
The report published in Berlin Friday says Russia's
President Vladimir Putin received a domestic
intelligence service report more than a week ago
detailing the accident. But Russia's Deputy Prime
Minister Ilya Klebanov said there was no shooting
underway at the time of the accident and no live
ammunition was being used.
///ACT KLEBANOV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER///
He says, "I saw something similar to the German report
in a regional newspaper ten days ago-they must have
taken it from there."
Here in Moscow, a press officer for the Federal
Security Service, the FSB, says there will be no
comment on the matter - even on whether such a report
exists.
///ACT FSB PRESS SERVICE IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE
UNDER///
An FSB press officer explains that the agency does not
comment on newspaper reports, "especially" she adds,
on "information printed in a foreign newspaper."
/// OPT /// Russia's Interfax news agency also quotes
a senior Russian navy official as denying a Russian
missile hit the submarine.
Independent defense expert Pavel Felgenhauer
questioned the German report.
///ACT FELGENHAUER///
"Improbable. The problem is that the Granit
cruise missile is not designed to hit underwater
targets at all. It basically could have hit a
submarine, but only when it's on the surface."
///End Act///
A second defense specialist, Alexander Golts doubted
that any foreign newspaper would be able to access a
Russian intelligence report.
///ACT GOLTS///
I doubt very seriously that any foreign
newspaper - as well as Russian - can have a real
FSB report on the case of the tragedy of the
Kursk. But speaking theoretically, the version
they insist upon-that this submarine was
attacked by a missile from the Pyotr Veliki
(Peter the Great) is very real - as are five or
six other versions.
///END ACT/// ///END OPT///
The cause of the explosions that ripped through the
Kursk has been a mystery since the submarine sank to
the bottom of the Barents Sea on August 12th, killing
all 118 crewmen on board. Russian officials have
suggested the Kursk went down following a collision
with a foreign object.
The Berliner Zeitung report said the cruiser had been
fitted with a new enemy-hunting system and had fired
the missile from the distance of 20 kilometers. It
quotes the Russian intelligence report as saying an
underwater explosion was registered aboard the
cruiser, followed by another moments later.
Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev on Friday also
denied a separate report that a Russian intelligence
submarine was near the Kursk at the time of the
accident.
///ACT SERGEYEV IN RUSSIAN IN FULL AND FADE UNDER///
"I can only say that it never happened," says the
Defense Minister. "There is no submarine of the Chief
Intelligence Service - it does not even exist."
The United States Navy has told Russia it believes two
explosions caused the sinking of the Kursk, and that
the second, more powerful blast led to the immediate
flooding of the vessel. Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov
told Interfax that materials given by United States
specialists contained no new information and that the
collision was most likely caused by a mine, a
malfunction in the front section, or a collision with
an underwater object. He said a government meeting on
the causes of the disaster would be held next week. A
Russian parliamentary faction called on Friday for an
independent inquiry into the cause of the Kursk
disaster. (Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/KBK
08-Sep-2000 11:31 AM EDT (08-Sep-2000 1531 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.